October 20
While we were in Pennsylvania, parts of the Terre Haute area received five
inches of rain. When we went hiking in the Deam
Wilderness the following Saturday, it made sense to avoid streams and
bottomlands, so we hiked the 3.4 mile segment from the Grubb Ridge trailhead
to the Cope Hollow junction just east of the Blackwell Horse Camp.
Maria hiked the entire return trip on her own feet. There was some
mud but trail conditions weren't too bad since this segment stayed entirely
on the ridge paralleling Tower Ridge Road. The most unusual occurrence
was a swarm of ladybugs which buzzed around us as we got out of the car
at the beginning of the hike. They are all over Indiana -- our house
is full of them -- and Mike read a story about them in the Detroit
Free Press online, so evidently they are all over Michigan too!

Weekend in Pennsylvania

October 10-14
After Dad got out of his department retreat on Wednesday afternoon, the
three of us left for a fall break vacation. We spent Wednesday night
near Columbus, Ohio, then finished driving to our destination of Williamsport,
Pennsylvania on Thursday. On Friday, we hiked the Golden
Eagle Trail, located in northwestern Lycoming County, in its entirety
of 9.1 miles. Maria set another new personal record by covering 4.1
miles on her own two feet -- including a 1300 ft elevation gain!
On Saturday, we rested our legs and stuck to sightseeing and shopping.
The fall color was nearly perfect in the hills, and dinners at the Heavenly
Pasteria were as tasty as ever. Even the weather was favorable --
late afternoon showers were predicted on Friday but never materialized
-- and Saturday was sunny with a high of 78 degrees! This was a vast
improvement on the 4.4 inches of rain measured in our backyard rain gauge
when we returned to Terre Haute on Sunday. One last item -- after
nearly 20 years of hiking in wilderness areas we saw our first black bear,
but not while hiking! It was meandering around a yard and driveway
adjacent to PA State Route 414 near Jersey Mills. We stopped the
car to watch it, but when another car stopped and began driving up the
driveway toward it, the bear spooked and went back into the woods.

Garden Escapes Frost

October 7
According to the official reporting station, Terre Haute reached a low
of 28 degrees overnight. Mike took a chance on leaving the potted
peppers under a tree to prevent radiational cooling. They came through
the night just fine -- but so did all the other plants in the exposed part
of the garden. Once again, Farrington's Grove was proved to have
an extremely favorable microclimate!

Maria Hikes Four Miles

October 6
Maria set a new personal best by hiking four miles on her own two feet
in the Deam
Wilderness Area in the Hoosier
National Forest. We hiked the Peninsula Trail from Grubb Ridge parking
area all the way down to Lake Monroe. Dad was pretty beat after carrying
her five miles down to the lake, but Maria saved the day by walking back
all but the last mile or so. We have now covered 14 miles of trails
in the wilderness area, and Maria has done over 9.4 miles of that on her
own two feet!

Last Hibiscus Bloom

October 5
The very last of the second batch of flowers on Maria's hibiscus plant
was pummeled by rain today. After one flower during its first year
and four during its second year, the plant produced 30 this year over two
batches from July to October!

More Hiking

September 29
We got a bit of a late start for our second hiking trip in the Deam
Wilderness Area in the Hoosier
National Forest, so we did a short hike of 4.8 miles on the Axsom Branch
Loop. We stopped only a half hour into the hike so that Maria could
toss stones in a stream, and she proceeded to hike the remaining 3.2 miles
on her own two feet, all the way back to our car which was parked at the
Hickory Ridge Fire Tower.

First Hike of Fall

September 16
After church Sunday morning, we drove to the Deam
Wilderness Area in the Hoosier
National Forest, about 20 miles southeast of Bloomington. Our
first hike in this area was also the first of this season -- a 5.5 mile
loop on the Sycamore Loop. Maria hiked on her own two feet for 2.7
miles, beginning by climbing out of Sycamore Creek and continuing nearly
all the way back to the parking area.

More Hibiscus Flowers

September 12-13
Maria's hibiscus started its 2nd batch of blooming this year. This
blossom lasted for two days, unlike the ones in the heat of the summer
which only lasted for one, and it looks to be followed by about five more
which are currently in bud.

More Grandma & Grandpa

September 3-7
After celebrating Labor Day with Mom and Maria -- but not Dad who had to
work -- Grandma and Grandpa left for a side trip to St.
Genevieve, Missouri on Tuesday. They were back Thursday morning,
then left for Michigan on Friday morning -- although Grandpa tried to talk
Grandma into staying even longer!

Grandma's Genealogy Research

September 2
Sunday night after the festival, Mom was attempting to show a dubious Grandma
the value of the Internet. When Mom attempted to search for relatives,
she discovered a web site dedicated to genealogy of the Houde
family in Canada, which are apparently the ancestors of Maria's great-grandmother.
In one chance surfing of the Internet, the family has been traced back
to 1647 in the New World!

Little Italy Festival

September 2
After church today, we drove up to Clinton for the Little Italy Festival.
Grandma and Grandpa had come down from Michigan to go to the festival,
and Mom was concerned that they would be disappointed, but they seemed
to enjoy it quite a bit. After all, as Dad pointed out, it was even
better than Lapeer Days!

Trip to Champaign

September 1
This afternoon, we took Grandma and Grandpa for a trip to Champaign, Illinois.
After stopping at an apple orchard south of town, we went downtown and
browsed through shops before having dinner at one of Maria's favorite restaurants,
Radio
Maria.

Grandma & Grandpa Arrive

August 28
Grandma and Grandpa arrived this afternoon on a visit from Michigan.

First Day of School

August 21
Today was Maria's first day of school. This year, she's a big first
grader.

Big Tomato

August 20
So far this summer, the tomato crop has been great. There have been
several tomatoes that weighed over a pound, and some of the Delicious variety
were over a pound and a half. After returning from vacation, Aimee
discovered a Polish Giant Paste tomato that outdid even its name -- it
weighed over two pounds!

Grandma's Birthday

August 17-19
Leaving the U.P. Friday morning, we stopped for lunch in downtown Grayling
and continued on to Lapeer where we took Grandma out to dinner for her
74th birthday. She wanted to go to Bill Knapp's, and we didn't complain
since her meal was 74% off! On Saturday, we traveled to Flushing
where the family got together at Aunt Nita and Uncle Jim's for Grandma's
birthday party. Sunday was a travel day, with a stop for lunch at
El Azteco in East Lansing before we returned home.

Up North in Michigan

August 14-17
On Tuesday, we stopped for lunch at Hermann's
in Cadillac, drove up to Chateau Grand
Traverse on the Old Mission Peninsula, continued north for a stop in
Petoskey before crossing the Mackinac Bridge to spend the next three nights
in St. Ignace in the U.P. Wednesday, we boarded the Star
Line Ferry with our bicycles to visit Mackinac Island for the first
time in four years. After lunch, all three of us biked around the
island with stops at a nature walk near mile 3 and at British Landing,
where Maria played on a rocky beach for a while. After returning
to town, we split up with Aimee doing some shopping downtown while Mike
and Maria rode back to British Landing, then uphill for a stop at the Battlefield
of 1814, then past the airport, cemeteries, and Skull Cave for another
stop at Arch Rock. Biking back past Fort Mackinac, the governor's
residence, and the Grand Hotel, they met Aimee back in town for dinner
before catching the ferry back to the mainland. On Thursday, we visited
Creekside Herbs in Cedarville, stopped for lunch at the Arctic Inn in Eckerman,
then made our way to Lower Tahquamenon Falls. Maria especially enjoyed
identifying the height of each set of falls as indicated on a sign along
the foot trail in the park. Unfortunately, our last stop at Seney
National Wildlife Refuge was spoiled by a pouring rainstorm which prevented
us from biking or walking on the trails, although we were able to drive
around the seven-mile wildlife automobile drive.

Last Michigan Vacation of the
Summer

August 12-14 Our
last trip before school began with an overnight stop in Chicago on Sunday.
Monday, we drove to Grand Rapids, stopping for a treat at Sherman's
Dairy Bar in South Haven on the way. That evening, we watched
the West Michigan Whitecaps
(Tigers Class A team) defeat Cedar Rapids, giving Mike and Maria a perfect
3-0 record at baseball games this summer.

Trip to Illinois

August 7-8
We passed through Arcola and did some shopping en route to Lincoln's
New Salem, located just northeast of Springfield. Mike had visited
there about 25 years ago, and he thought things were not changed very much.
After that, we drove up to Batavia where we spent the night visiting Uncle
Bernie and Aunt Robbie. Wednesday morning, we did some shopping at
American
Science and Surplus, then attended a minor league baseball game in
which the Lansing Lugnuts
defeated the Kane County Cougars
3-2. Of course, Mike and Maria cheered for the visiting Lugnuts,
since they are a Cubs' affiliate -- in fact, they are the successors to
Maria's beloved Williamsport Cubs.

Trip to St Louis

July 28-29
We celebrated the end of the month by traveling to St. Louis for an overnight
stay, visiting the Butterfly House
and carousel at Faust
Park and the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
We also did some shopping, stopped at Ted
Drewes for dessert, and had dinner at a small Italian restaurant on
The Hill before returning home Sunday evening.

Maria's Hibiscus Blooms

July 27
The last two years, Maria's Hibiscus didn't start blooming till mid to
late August, but this year the first bloom appeared today. Until
we have a chance to get photos, enjoy this photo
from last year.

Summer Camp for Maria and Dad

July 8-27
For the second consecutive year, Dad spent most of July teaching at Operation
Catapult, an engineering program for high school students at Rose-Hulman.
Maria spent the middle week of this time at Camp Rave located at Fowler
Park where she did swimming and a variety of other fun activities.

Birthdays in Michigan

July 1-7
For the first week of July, we traveled to southeastern Michigan.
The highlight of the week was the family celebration of Grandpa's and Maria's
birthdays on July 4. We also went swimming on Lake Huron near Port
Austin, and on July 6, twenty family members representing the Ellen Bommarito
Memorial Tiger Fans attended the Cubs-Tigers game in Detroit. The
Cubs won 15-9 in a wild slugfest during which teams batted around on three
different occasions!

Farrington's Grove Garden Tour

June 17
We returned from our vacation just in time to catch the inaugural Farrington's
Grove Garden Tour, sponsored by the Farrington's Grove
Historical District. The event drew over 100 people and was so
successful that the organization hopes to repeat it next year.

Vacation Up North

June 10-17
This summer, instead of circling Lake Michigan on one long vacation, we
broke things up into two shorter trips. On the first of these, we
spent two days in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where we had lived from 1988
to 1991. Then we traveled north to Houghton, Michigan, where we spent
three days, before heading back south with stopovers in Green Bay and in
Chicago.

Mom Visits Union Hospital

June 8 Unfortunately,
the visit was for business, not pleasure. Mom sliced
her finger with a knife this afternoon badly enough to visit the emergency
room at Union Hospital and wound up with 3 stitches. She was very
brave, and so was Maria, who kept walking over and hugging her and saying,
"You're OK, Mommy!" Her prognosis is good.

Garden Update

June 5 The
garden is holding its own, although it would be doing better if we had
gotten some sun and normal temperatures in the last three weeks.
The Stupice and Yellow Pear tomatoes have already begun to set, and this
year's crop of snow peas is our best since moving to Indiana, thanks to
the extended period of below normal temperatures and rain. It's too
bad all our greens already bolted during the heat of late April and early
May, because they would grow well now. Beans and some cucumbers did
come in just before the weather change, but most nasturtiums, squash, and
melon did not germinate with the cold. The lawn keeps producing mulch
at a rapid rate, although probably not as rapidly as we would need.

Dad's Cages

May 22 For
several years, Mom has been asking Dad to improve the tomato cages by building
them out of some sturdy concrete reinforcing wire as she once read in a
magazine article. This year, with over four dozen tomatoes and peppers,
Dad finally did it. Starting with a 5 ft by 150 ft roll of wire that
he could barely lift into the car, and cutting it with the biggest set
of sidecutter pliers Sears sold, augmented by Uncle Mark's favorite aids
-- pieces of pipe on the handles, Dad produced a number of cages in varying
sizes that seemed to make both Mom and the tomato plants happy. Now
if we could only get some sun and warm weather back!

Chicago Trip

May 18-20
After Dad and Maria got out of school on Friday afternoon, we left to visit
Uncle Bernie and Aunt Robbie in Batavia, spent the night there, then drove
into Chicago to see Grandpa John, Auntie Mary, Auntie Anne, and cousins
Amanda and Courtney. Auntie Mary was just getting out of a minor
hospital visit. The Cubs ended an eight game losing streak on Friday,
beginning their longest winning streak in 65 years the following day.

Stormy Night

May 16-17
After a colder than normal early winter, the rest of the winter was normal,
but spring started cool until April. Then a streak of unusually warm
weather hit and everything in the garden got ahead of normal, with the
only problem being a bit of a drought. This began to be solved on
the evening of May 16. After watching black storm clouds progress
to the east for over an hour, the line of storms finally hit us just after
7:30. By the next morning, we had recorded about three and a half
inches of rain in our rain gauge, and our power stayed off just over 16
hours. The storm ushered in a weather pattern change that left us
cool and rainy for several weeks thereafter.

More Visitors

April 26-May 4
Grandma Frank and Grandma Irene stopped for a visit on their way back north
to Michigan from winter in Florida. Among the highlights of this
visit were a Sunday brunch at St. Mary of the Woods and a dinner at Pino's
Restauarant on Monday. Grandpa enjoyed the dinner so much he went
into the kitchen to talk to Pino -- and didn't come out for ten minutes!
The two of them were reminiscing about growing up in Italy and Sicily.

We Finish the Knobstone Trail!

April 21
On the warm windy Saturday of April 21, 2001, we hiked our final segment
along the eastern part of the Spurgeon Hollow Loop to complete the Knobstone
Trail. Maria hiked the entire 3.2 mile distance back to the car on
her own feet, tying her personal best. Dad told her that she should
be especially proud because not many five-year-olds have completed the
KT. He estimates that she covered 15 to 20 miles of the total distance
on her own feet -- including virtually the entire Spurgeon Hollow Loop
-- and the remainder in his backpack carrier.

Easter Visitors

April 15-17
We had our traditional Easter dinner late in the afternoon, when Grandpa
John, Auntie Mary, Auntie Anne, and cousins Amanda and Courtney arrived
from Chicago. Auntie Anne was a bit worn out from the three hour
drive -- evidently, she had not driven further than about 70 miles before.
Of course we had the usual outdoor egg hunt -- on Monday after Maria got
home from school -- and then the girls earned a few dollars by picking
hundreds of dandelion flowers out of the yard at a penny per ten flowers.
Grandpa also took everyone to a dinner at his favorite Terre Haute restaurant
-- Moggers.

Garden is Progressing

April 1
The indoor seedlings are doing well, and soon tomatoes will need to be
transplanted into bigger pots. Dad kept to the tradition of planting
snow peas outdoors on St. Patrick's Day, along with lettuce, spinach, and
a few other greens. Within a few days, the area was hit by a cold
snap that dropped overnight lows to around 10 degrees! Nevertheless,
the seeds have begun to sprout. With forecasts for lows considerably
above freezing as far as AccuWeather can predict, Dad moved the potted
peppers out to the balcony this afternoon.

More Knobstone Hiking

March 31
A second consecutive weekend of good weather found us traveling again to
the KT. Mike had planned to do the more difficult of the two remaining
segments, but we were unable to locate the (unofficial) road access to
the trail so we went back to Spurgeon Hollow trailhead and did an approximately
six mile trip from mile 43.3 to mile 40.7. En route, we ran into
some local hikers who were able to explain which road to take to access
the other location. We also saw another long-abandoned yard of daffodils,
and Maria hiked on her own two feet for the entire return trip after lunch,
three miles. (See photos: Mom and Maria at
Lunch Break, Maria Hiking at Mile 42.)

Knobstone Trail Hiking

March 24
Due to the cold winter, we weren't able to hike until the end of March.
To get back into the groove, Dad planned a very short hike to complete
the west leg of the Spurgeon Hollow Loop from the trailhead at Spurgeon
Hollow Lake along the KT from mile approximately 43.3 to 44.7. We
climbed up and down one rise, dropped to a stream, and saw an interesting
plot of daffodils blooming in what had once been a homestead, now long
gone. Maria walked about two miles on her own. (See photos:
Maria
about to begin hiking at Spurgeon Hollow Lake,
Daffodils
in the Woods.)

First Daffodils of Spring

March 15
After tempting us with buds for what seemed like several weeks, a few of
the daffodils along the Center Street rose hedge opened today. The
bulb catalogs tell the truth when they claim 'Rijnvelt's Early Sensation'
is the earliest daffodil. Like our crocuses, the daffodils are about
two weeks behind last year.

Garden is Sprouting

March 5
Before leaving for Chicago, Dad had planted a flat of various seedlings
to be transplanted into the garden later in the spring. The first
seedlings to come up were broccoli plants which began poking out of the
ground sometime Monday afternoon, a little over 3 days after planting.

Chicago Trip

March 2-3
Dad was on quarter break, and Maria got out of school at noon on Friday,
so we drove up to Chicago to visit Grandpa John, Auntie Anne, cousins Amanda
and Courtney, and Auntie Mary.

First Trip to Springfield

February 23-24
This weekend, we ignored the threats of rainy weather and ventured to Springfield,
Illinois, to visit the Lincoln historical sites. Things were considerably
less crowded than the previous weekend at the historic sites in Philadelphia.
We saw Lincoln's Home and surrounding neighborhood, his law office and
the old State Capitol, the railroad depot where he left for Washington
after becoming President, and Lincoln's Tomb. Before leaving Springfield,
we also visited the Horticultural Garden in Washington Park, which included
a small but attractive conservatory with a variety of tropical plants and
birds. (See photos: Maria at Lincoln's Home,
Maria
at Horticultural Garden Conservatory Holding One of Her Original Renditions
of 'Flowers You've Never Heard Of'.)

First Signs of Spring or Last
Signs of Winter

February 19-20
The earliest crocuses are blooming in full force at both corners of the
front porch. Buds showed up a week earlier, but a combination of
cold and wet weather kept them from opening. Crocus
Sieberi 'Firefly' is thirteen days behind
last year, which indicates the contrast between this cold winter and the
warm winter last year. A bigger surprise, which Dad noticed on a
sunny warm Tuesday afternoon, was three or four blooms on the winter crocuses.
Crocus laevigatus fontenayi was supposed to start blooming in December,
but got buried with snow and ice for over a month. Over the weekend
in Philadelphia, we saw a few blooming at our old house, but weren't expecting
any in Terre Haute this year.

February 2-3
On an overnight trip to St. Louis, we stopped for a seafood dinner at the
Gulf
Coast Cafe in the South
Grand neighborhood, then spent the night in Chesterfield. On
Saturday, we visited St. Charles and had lunch there before spending the
afternoon at the City Museum
on 16th and Washington. Maria really enjoyed the children's activities
there including climbing and slides, and she made a clay sculpture of a
snowman.

Mom's Birthday

January 30
We celebrated Mom's birthday on a Tuesday night with a Mexican dinner out
while Maria was at her Daisy Scouts meeting. In addition to a pecan
pie from Uncle Al's Pecans, Mom also received a variety of cards and decorations
from Ten Thousand Villages,
revealing that the surprise destination ten days before was Champaign,
Illinois.

January 20
Dad had originally hoped to take advantage of US
Airways E-Savers which this week featured
Indianapolis to Philadelphia. By late week, it was apparent the weather
would not be cooperating on the East Coast. Instead, Dad and Maria
drove the red car to a surprise location where they spent most of the afternoon.
Their activities were shrouded in secrecy, though they seemed related to
Mom's upcoming birthday.

Trip to Indianapolis

January 12-13
Friday after Dad got out of work, we drove to Indianapolis and had dinner
at Kabul Afghan restaurant, which we have been trying to do for years,
it seems. Taking advantage of the last weekend of the holiday rate
at Homewood
Suites, we got an early start Saturday morning, dropping Mom at Keystone
Crossing while Dad and Maria visited the Children's
Museum. They returned for a late lunch at Mongolian
Barbeque before meeting Mom at Borders.

January 5-6, 2001
With a weekend warmup predicted, we traveled overnight to St. Louis hoping
to get away from the snow and cold. There was still a little snow even
there, but at least the temperature got up into the mid 40s on Saturday.
We shopped and had lunch in the famous Italian neighborhood, "The
Hill," then visited the St.
Louis Zoo in the afternoon

Cincinnati Visit

December 30-31, 2000
After leaving Michigan, we drove down to Cincinnati, did some shopping,
and stayed overnight before stopping briefly in Indianapolis then returning
home the afternoon of New Year's Eve.

December 22-24
We began Christmas vacation with Grandpa John, Auntie Mary, Auntie Anne,
Uncle Saad, and cousins Amanda and Courtney in Chicago. Since we were leaving
early on the 24th, we celebrated the traditional Christmas Eve dinner and
exchanged presents on the 23rd. (See photos:
Traditional
Christmas Eve Dinner,
Maria Opening Presents)

Maria's Christmas Program

December 21
Despite four days of cancellations and three days of delays or early dismissals
in the last seven days before Christmas break, school managed to meet long
enough for the annual Christmas program. Maria's kindergarten class at
Farrington Grove School performed two songs with accompanying dances. (See
photos:
Maria's school Christmas program #1,
Maria's
school Christmas program #2)